Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Fizz bubbled out the top to a round of cheers before he began to pour it into a bunch of flutes set up on the drink table.
Theo slipped back up to my side. A shiver rolled through me when he leaned in and put his mouth to my ear. “That mean you’re staying?”
“For a little while.” I whispered it out ahead of me.
I could feel the heat of his gaze searing into the side of my face.
I’d never been so sure than right then that this man could see right through me.
That he could wreck me.
Ruin me.
I had the foolish thought of wondering if I was the same for him.
Because I could feel a thousand emotions toil through the middle of him.
Greed and reticence and steely possession.
That dark danger emanated from his spirit like some kind of warning, all while there was an undercurrent that pulled me in.
As if I could reach out and touch the pain and fear that surrounded him.
My chest squeezed, and I muttered, “It doesn’t change anything. You and I are still not going to happen.”
My staying actually solidified it.
I couldn’t get close to him.
Because I knew what happened when I did. I couldn’t risk the pain. Couldn’t risk bringing him into the mess that was my life.
Even though the only thing I wanted to do right then was give in to the possession that blazed in his moonlit eyes.
SEVENTEEN
THEO
“Now on to the most important of topics,” Kane said, grinning like mad as he leaned forward in the booth where our whole crew had gathered. He trailed off dramatically, dude baiting everyone into paying attention to him, amping the anticipation like the goof had something important to say.
The night had grown long, everyone having a blast celebrating Emery and her accomplishment.
A lost dream that had been found.
The girls were standing around one of the high-topped tables, giggling and sharing secrets, likely dishing all the dirty deets—at least the ones they could give considering everything about our lives was secret.
Could tell with the way each of them would laugh, then Piper would try not to peek back in my direction. Though that effort was futile.
The more she sipped at her glass of champagne the bolder she became—or maybe, the more careless.
Those icy eyes flashing back toward me, hitting me like the first rays of morning light breaking at the horizon.
Cutting through all the darkness inside me in a way that I could hardly handle.
Woman making me itch.
Felt like I was going out of my mind, body begging for something I knew very well I couldn’t have.
Piper Whittman had officially become off limits.
She was staying.
Becoming a part of our crew.
And there was no way I could delve into something temporary with her, the way I was aching to do.
Temporary.
Internally, I scoffed, that voice at the back of my mind goading me. Warning that whatever I was feeling was wholly different than anything I’d ever felt before.
Not once.
And maybe that was the most terrifying thing of all.
“And that all-important question is…who is going to be Little Luna’s godfather,” Kane continued, his ribbing drawing my focus back to my crew. “I mean, the obvious answer is me.”
He gestured at himself with both hands. “No one here is smarter or more successful or, let’s be honest, good looking. And our Little Luna is going to need that kind of epic influence in her life.”
River grunted as he took a sip from his tumbler. “She’s my actual niece, fucktwat. Of course, I’m going to be her godfather.”
Kane pouted like that small fact was just dawning on him.
“But I mean, if River wasn’t her actual uncle, then it would be me, right?”
“Doubtful.” Otto said it all kinds of serious, though I could tell he was trying not to bust up.
Laughing under my breath, I took another sip of my old fashioned, nursing it slow, rolling it over my tongue and relishing the sweet fire when it landed in my gut.
The air trembled, and I glanced up to catch those eyes on me again.
Yeah, sweet fucking fire.
After what happened last weekend, I promised myself that I’d keep my distance. My heart had been getting way too invested while I’d been out there playing with her son. The sense I had about that SUV had snapped me right back into my reality.
A stark reminder of my duty.
This penance that was never going to be paid.
And here she was, fucking my head all up again.
“…right, Theo?”
I jerked my attention back to Otto who was gripping me by the shoulder and shaking me around.
“Uh…”
Fuck, I hadn’t heard a word.
Smugness pulled to River’s face. “Not like that at all, is it?”
I shook myself out of it. “Sorry, mind was drifting, thinking about something that needs to be taken care of at the motel.”
“Oh, we know exactly what you were thinking about taking care of. See you over there imagining all the ways you want to peel that girl apart.” River issued it like fact.